Masculine birthday cards

In the last few weeks I've made a good-sized dent in my stash of birthday cards. Between all the September and October birthdays in our family and the fact that I didn't have much time to make cards while moving, I had pretty slim pickings for the five cards I needed on Sunday (a couple were being mailed late, but I figure better late than never). The only answer to that is to sit down and make more, so I decided to focus on masculine birthday cards.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!^®):
Stamps: Card Games, Game Night
Paper: Sahara Sand, Island Indigo card stock; Designer Series Paper (DSP) Patterns Pack - In Color
Ink: Island Indigo, Sahara Sand, Poppy Parade, Blush Blossom
Accessories: White gel pen, Island Indigo baker's twine, Stamp-a-Ma-Jig, Tombow multipurpose adhesive

I've made a card with some version of this layout a few times; it's fun, cute and easy. I stamped the card image in Island Indigo and Poppy Parade. I cut out the diamond shapes from the Poppy Parade image, adhered them to the Island Indigo card and then used markers to color the background and faces on the image. To make the other four cards, I traced the stamped and cut-out card four times onto a sheet of DSP (I try to pick a pattern that looks like a traditional deck of cards), cut them out and then used a white gel pen to make border around the edges. I finished the design with a stamped border, a strip of card stock and a piece of baker's twine.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Asian Art
Card stock: Naturals Ivory, Cajun Craze, Sahara Sand, Soft Suede
Ink: Jet Black StazOn, Cajun Craze, Sahara Sand, Soft Suede, Garden Green
Accessories: Regals brads, 1-1/4" circle punch, Dimensionals

I've always liked the images in the Asian Art stamp set, but I have to admit that I have a hard time creating cards with them. As a result, these stamps have seen precious little ink over the years. I'm pleased with how this card turned out, though; I like the colors, the layout and the clean background. And although I stamped a birthday sentiment inside, this card would be great for any occasion.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: In the Wild, It's Your Birthday, Rough Edges Alphabets, Party Time petit fours set (DeNami Design)
Card stock: Naturals Ivory, Basic Black, Lucky Limeade
Ink: Jet Black StazOn; markers: Basic Black, Lucky Limeade, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red

This is not like the cards I usually make, but it's my favorite of this bunch. I love the combination of the different styles of images (something I don't normally do) and the contrast of the black and white animals to the brightly colored party items. I realized after I finished the card that it doesn't have any embellishments, but I think that works here; there isn't anything to detract from the bold images.

I knew I wanted to have the greeting "party animal" inside the card, but I couldn't find one among all my stamps (hard to believe, I know). I decided to pull out one of my small alphabet sets and make my own greeting. I purposely stamped the letters at odd angles -- if you stamp them imperfectly on purpose then it's easy to hide any "mistakes." I'm planning to give this card to my brother, and I think he'll get a kick out of it.

Thanks for stopping by!